President Trump’s Executive
Order on Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States requires
the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
to collect relevant data and provide quarterly reports on data collection
efforts. On Dec. 18, 2017, DOJ and DHS released the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017
Fourth Quarter Alien Incarceration Report, complying with this order. The report found that more than one in five
of all persons in Bureau of Prisons (BOP) custody were foreign born, and that
94 percent of confirmed aliens in custody were unlawfully present.

“The
American people deserve a lawful system of immigration that serves the national
interest,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “But at the border and in
communities across America, our citizens are being victimized by illegal aliens
who commit crimes. Nearly 95 percent of confirmed aliens in our federal prisons
are here illegally. We know based on
sentencing data that non-citizens commit a substantially disproportionate
number of drug-related offenses, which contributes to our national drug abuse
crisis. The simple fact is that any offense committed by a criminal alien is
ultimately preventable. One victim is too many.
It’s time for Congress to enact the President’s immigration reform
agenda so that we start welcoming the best and brightest while turning away
drug dealers, gang members, and other criminals.”

“While the administration
is working diligently to remove dangerous criminal aliens from our streets,
this report highlights the fact that more must be done,” said Secretary of
Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen. “We
will continue to pursue President Trump’s immigration priorities, including
securing the border, enhancing interior enforcement, and pursuing a merit-based
immigration system, but Congress must act immediately to adopt obvious
solutions to strengthen DHS and DOJ efforts to confront dangerous criminal
aliens.”

A total of 58,766 known or
suspected aliens were in DOJ custody at the end of FY 2017, including 39,455
persons in BOP custody and 19,311 in U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) custody. Of
this total, 37,557 people had been confirmed by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) to be aliens (i.e., non-citizens and non-nationals), while
21,209 foreign-born people were still under investigation by ICE to determine
alienage and/or removability.

Among the 37,557 confirmed
aliens, 35,334 people (94 percent) were unlawfully present. These numbers
include a 92 percent unlawful rate among 24,476 confirmed aliens in BOP custody
and a 97 percent unlawful rate among 13,081 confirmed aliens in USMS custody.

This report does not
include data on the foreign-born or alien populations in state prisons and
local jails because state and local facilities do not routinely provide DHS or
DOJ with comprehensive information about their inmates and detainees—which
account for approximately 90 percent of the total U.S. incarcerated population.

Out of the 185,507 inmates
in BOP custody, 39,455 (21 percent) were reported by BOP as foreign-born.
Further details regarding these 39,455 foreign-born inmates are as follows:

• 20,240 (51 percent) were
unauthorized aliens who are subject to a final order of removal;

• 14,979 (38 percent)
remain under ICE investigation;

• 2,374 (6 percent) were
unlawfully present and now in removal proceedings;

• 1,852 (less than 5
percent) were lawfully present aliens but are now in removal proceedings; and

• 10 were aliens who have
been granted relief or protection from removal.